The Group is back! Here’s the why, how and what’s next.

We’ve talked openly about the sudden drop in our reach when Meta’s latest algorithm changes buried local, text-based community posts under a flood of Reels and viral content. So here’s where we’re at now and what we’ve done to make sure no mum gets left behind.

This year Meta (Facebook’s parent company) rolled out another major algorithm update a change that heavily prioritised short-form videos (Reels) and big-brand or viral content, leaving local community groups like ours buried in your feed. You might have noticed more dancing cats and funny clips, but fewer honest questions about parenting, fewer local recommendations, and fewer late-night check-ins from mums just like you.

Active member statistics for MOTHS and two other groups in Melbourne.

When we looked at our numbers, the impact was stark. I reached out to other groups to try to find answers. As you can see in the above graphs, all covering a similar period in May–June 2025 (roughly May 17–June 17), we held steady for weeks, then our reach plunged almost overnight. Engagement fluctuated more in the mums group I compared us with (middle), but stayed within the same general range throughout. There was a visible dip, but not a sustained or extreme drop like ours. The mixed gender community group (right) showed a fluctuating reach/engagement, but unlike MOTHS, no dramatic drop, with the pattern of peaks and dips continuing, ending with numbers similar to the start.

What these graphs show is that our very sudden, steep decline wasn’t mirrored in the other two groups, suggesting that the algorithm change or external factor was disproportionately impacting our group and groups like MOTHS, compared to other community groups, even other mums groups.

Why do we think this happened?

We know this isn’t the first time we’ve been at the mercy of platform changes. Back in early 2021, Facebook blocked Australian news content during its standoff with the government, but in doing so, it accidentally wiped out charities, community pages and emergency services too. That’s when we realised just how risky it is to rely on a single corporate platform to keep mums connected.

Even today, the people who rely on local mums’ groups, mostly women aged 25–44, haven’t gone anywhere. According to recent data, this is still Facebook’s largest active user group. But the content that matters most, the honest, sometimes vulnerable questions, doesn’t get the quick clicks, likes and shares that the algorithm wants. So it gets buried.

How did we respond?

We didn’t sit still. Back in 2021, we secured funding to build our own website and mailing list so that mums would always have a place to find us. Since then, we’ve worked hard to fund and maintain it ourselves. We pay for secure web hosting, a newsletter platform, and an official email address to make sure our messages reach you (with fewer landing in junk mail), no matter what happens to our Facebook feed.

At the end of 2023, we trialled the use of Messenger community chats. We knew the growth in the main group was making it hard to speak to people locally, so these chats aimed to enable hyper-local conversations (street by street in some cases) and connections. What we realised is that unlike the main news feed, these chats aren’t governed by the same algorithms, so when our posts suddenly stopped showing up, we were able to get the word out fast through our chats. When combined with our email alert through our mailing list, it reinforced the need for individuals to make changes to their notifications.

Finally, since this situation, we’ve begun allowing Reels and new post types in the group for the first time. This shift will help our local business promotion during Business Share Wednesday and community updates stay visible, because these formats are exactly what the algorithm wants to show. While thoughtful mum-to-mum support posts don’t always go viral in the same way, we’re working hard to keep a healthy balance so everyone, businesses and mums alike, stay seen and supported.

Thanks to our paid subscribers who have helped us to keep our website, newsletter and personalised email going, and the huge effort of members, we quickly turned the situation around.

How you can help

We’re really proud of how quickly we’ve recovered, but we’re not resting on our laurels. Please help us to keep the group active and healthy but some or all of these suggested below:

• Sign up to our mailing list through our website. This ensures you’ll always hear from us, even if our posts don’t appear in your feed.

• Turn on notifications for our group so you never miss an important post or update.

• Engage with our posts by liking, commenting, and sharing. This tells the algorithm that our content matters and helps it reach more mums who need it.

• Support our independence where you can. Running our own website, newsletter, and Messenger network costs real money and time, but it means we can keep mums connected no matter what happens on social media.

The reality is: we can’t fix the algorithm. But we can fix the way we stay connected. Just because a big tech company decides our conversations don’t generate enough clicks for them doesn’t mean we’re going to let any mum get left behind. Thank you for your help getting us back on our feet and for helping us keep this community strong. We’ll still be here, no matter what the algorithm does next.